Contribution
I am pleased to be able to contribute to this Budget debate. I very much welcome the breathing space that this Budget provides for families across Merthyr Tydfil and Aberdare. I welcome the additional £450 million spending power delivered to the Welsh Government as a direct result of this Budget, which they will hopefully use to support public services across Wales. That builds on at least £6.5 billion of total additional spending power that has already been delivered to the Welsh Government over this spending review period as a result of decisions taken by this UK Labour Government.
I am also pleased that this Labour Government are backing economic growth in Wales, delivering on our commitment on rail with £30 million to drive forward new stations in Wales, subject to the Plaid Cymru Government confirming that they will match our ambition. The Government are giving families in Wales breathing space through help with the things that matter most: energy costs, fuel, food prices, pensions and wages. Thanks to decisions taken by this Government, around 1 million households in Wales in council tax bands A to D will receive a £100 payment towards utilities. I am also pleased that tariffs have been removed on over 100 food products, helping with the weekly shop. Many of these are small things, but added together, they make a big difference to families across my constituency and across the country. Wales’s patron saint, St David, is famous for asking people to “do the little things”. The context is slightly different, but the principle is the same: taken together, little things can make a big difference.
I also want to highlight the mineworkers’ pension scheme. I declare an interest, in that my brother is a former miner and many of my extended family have also worked in the coal industry. I will focus on the last remaining call, which is to transfer the guarantor’s fund. Many ex-miners were the lifeblood of the community in my part of Wales, not only building our communities but building and powering our country. Many sacrificed their life, and many more sacrificed their health—that was the real price of coal. We owe them a debt. The Labour party has made huge progress on the injustice of the mineworkers’ pension scheme since coming into government. We are the only party to take meaningful steps to put this right.
In the 2024 Budget, the mineworkers’ pension scheme’s £1.5 billion investment reserve was transferred to its 110,000 members, resulting in a 32% pension bonus—around £29 a week. In the 2025 Budget, the British Coal staff superannuation scheme went through the same process, with its £2.3 billion investment reserve transferred to its 40,000 members. That resulted in a 41% pension bonus, or around £100 a week. I am pleased that in this Budget, the Chancellor announced that every penny of the surplus from the mineworkers’ pension scheme and the British Coal staff superannuation scheme will remain with those schemes and their members, rather than being divided with the Government.
Crucially, the Chancellor also said that this is unfinished business, and committed to ensuring that the full transfer of the guarantor’s fund will follow. That will finally right this injustice, which miners have faced for too long. However, we need that final piece to be delivered sooner rather than later, for the sake of the many ex-miners who are elderly and the many who are in poor health. Many die every month. I recognise the urgency of this matter, and I pledge that I will continue to work with my colleagues. I say to former miners across my constituency: I will continue fighting for you until you get the justice you have been waiting so long for.
Finally, although I welcome the freeze in fuel duty, I must again raise the scandal of local fuel prices. Fuel prices have remained stubbornly higher than in other areas, particularly in the Merthyr Tydfil part of my constituency. I have noted lower fuel prices in central London than in Merthyr Tydfil; even the Asda store in Merthyr Tydfil was charging around 10p per litre more than in any of its other local stores. When I met representatives of Asda earlier this year, they recognised this, and reduced their prices by 5p per litre within a few days, but the remaining retailers did not follow suit. While the war in Iran has made matters a whole lot worse, the impact in Merthyr Tydfil is worse than in many other local communities.
Although I recognise that the Government cannot force retailers to lower their prices, I have contacted the Competition and Markets Authority to ask for its help in highlighting the unfairness of fuel prices in my community and their impact on my constituents, who feel that they are being unfairly ripped off at the fuel pumps. Building on this Budget, I ask the CMA to come to the table and see what it can do to help my constituents.